What Makes

BIG WAVES?

Big Waves works with organizations looking to take courageous steps to create a more socially, economically and environmentally just world.

Big Waves is based in K’jipuktuk (Halifax) in Mi’kma’ki (Nova Scotia), the ancestral, unceded territory of the M’ikmaq People. Settlers and the M’ikmaq have lived in this territory under the provisions of the Peace and Friendship Treaties since 1760 and 1772. We are all Treaty People and have responsibilities to each other and this land.


There are many paths to a better future, but also many barriers.

Some of these barriers are internal, as we face the fear and uncertainty of stepping off the known path, and our natural human resistance to change. Others are interpersonal, as we struggle with organizational systems, cultures, and group dynamics that leave us disillusioned, unmotivated and exhausted before we even get to the big task of change. And then there are the big complex problems and systemic problems which require whole new ways of thinking, being and doing that question everything we take as known.

Big Waves supports organizations and change makers to remove these inner and interpersonal obstacles and build their capacity to take system-oriented steps toward their vision for the future.


PURPOSE

  • Develop courageous and change-oriented guidance from top to bottom within the organization that is willing to take risks to make the world better

     

  • Build resilient organizations and communities that are able to evolve new ways of thinking, being and doing to stay motivated and to achieve big wild goals

Brook Thorndycraft portrait3

Brook Thorndycraft, MA, B.Ed., Q.Med

works from K’jipuktuk (Halifax, Nova Scotia) as a Mediator, Coach, Adult Educator, Facilitator, and Organizational Consultant. She has many years’ experience in the areas of conflict transformation, organizational change, adult and experiential education, and relational leadership.

Brook Thorndycraft portrait3

Brook Thorndycraft, MA, B.Ed., Q.Med

works from K’jipuktuk (Halifax, Nova Scotia) as a Mediator, Coach, Adult Educator, Facilitator, and Organizational Consultant. She has many years’ experience in the areas of conflict transformation, organizational change, adult and experiential education, and relational leadership.

Brook coaches people who want to develop their relational leadership skills and strengthen their capacity to engage in change from the inside out. She supports people to build their emotional intelligence, build their confidence and sense of empowerment, navigate conflict or upheaval, lead with authenticity and compassion, steward an organization through change, and become aware of their own use of power.


In the Workplace

With workplaces, Brook integrates a holistic approach to creating healthier and more impactful organizations. She offers Workplace Restoration, which is a comprehensive approach to restoring good workplace relationships after a major conflict, investigation, or other workplace trauma. She offers support, training, and mediation to teams going through transformation, or wanting to improve their workplace culture. Brook approaches workplace issues with a combination of cognitive, embodied and creative approaches rooted in conflict transformation, popular education and group process, systems theory, mindfulness, Deep Democracy, and Somatic Experiencing® to identify and address personal interpersonal and systemic patterns that get in the way of meaningful change.

Brook is a white queer person of Jewish, Austrian, and English ancestry. She brings many years of involvement in social justice work and organizing around issues including anti-racism and anti-oppression, prison justice, community healing, anti-poverty, sexual health, LGBTTIQ2SA issues, and migrant justice work. Brook comes to organizational work from a healing-centred perspective, recognizing both the individual and collective traumas that need to be healed and the importance of finding joy and connection. It’s not only about work. For her it can mean singing loudly or walking her dog on the beach.

Key training and certification:

  • MA. Adult Education and Community Development, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto
  • Qualified Mediator, accredited through Alternative Dispute Resolution Institute of Canada
  • Somatic Experiencing Practitioner Training, Advanced Level, Somatic Experiencing Training Institute
  • Advanced Workplace Restoration and Workplace Fairness Assessment, Workplace Fairness Institute
  • Deep Democracy Level 4, Lewis Deep Democracy

For more information (LinkedIn)

LINEAGE

While it is impossible to acknowledge all of the people and traditions who have influenced her development, the following are some of the key lineages, individuals, and communities who have nourished her practice.

SOLIDARITY STATEMENT

Big Waves is committed to being in solidarity with organizations making change for a more socially, environmentally, and economically just society. The following outlines a commitment to contribute financially to those that are doing the hard work to create a better world.